Severe Floods Hit Czech Republic

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, August 13, 2002

Severe Floods Hit Czech Republic

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Continuous torrential rains have caused devastating floods in the Czech Republic over the past few days, claiming several casualties and prompting thousands of people to leave their homes Monday, local radio reported.

Czech police said the Vltava River overflowed and drowned a 55-year-old man on the outskirts of Prague on Monday, raising the death toll to seven since the floods hit the country last week.

In a public address on Czech Radio, Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla declared a state of emergency in five regions, including the capital city of Prague.

He said that the state of emergency would run from 6 p.m. localtime Monday to midnight on August 22, which means anyone other than rescue workers is prohibited to enter restricted and evacuated zones and evacuated citizens are compelled to report their temporary places of residence to the authorities.

Some 3,000 firemen, 500 soldiers and 900 policemen are assisting on the territory of several regions, he added.

Prague Mayor Igor Nemec said the water level in the city would rise to 3.5 meters higher than the usual level by the evening, which would make it the worst flood in decades.

Municipal authorities closed part of the right bank of the Vltava River in downtown Prague for traffic and several districts of Prague are without electricity. About 100 patients had to be evacuated from a hospital on the Vltava embankment and transportedto four other hospitals.

In the southern part of the country where flooding is the worst,thousands of people have been evacuated, several towns cut off andmany villages flooded as new rains continued to swell rivers and wipe out bridges.

The streets of UNESCO-protected town Cesky Krumlov, the second most popular tourist destination after Prague, are almost completely underwater, while the flooding had left trains and buses not running in Prachatice because bridges there have fallen and roads are damaged.

With more rain forecast in the next few days, the crisis committee fears further flooding due to the soil's inability to hold any more water and the failure of dams containing the flow.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Over 100,000 Drug Abusers in Czech Republic

Czech President Backs Baltic's NATO Entry

Bush Looks Forward to Chinese President Jiang's Visit: Spokesman ( 15 Messages)

Shanghai Financial Center Aiming High ( 4 Messages)

China's High-tech Development Geared to Marketable Industries ( 40 Messages)

US Should Change Two-sided Policy: Opinion ( 5 Messages)

Chinese GRE Test Takers Shocked by US ETS Decision ( 17 Messages)